Low Visibility Essay

1109 Words5 Pages
Low Visibility What sustains your identity? Can another human shatter your identity? Why do we let ourselves suppress by other humans, and what does it take to regain your identity? These are all questions our main character Laura is going through, in Margaret Murphy´s short story “Low Visibility” from 2008. Laura is the main character of this short story and in the story is she suppressed both mentally and physically, by her husband John. Already the beginning of the text indicates that she is suppresses by her husband John. He sits with the one hand on the remote control and are controlling what they shall see, and the other hand on Laura´s thigh so that he also can control her: ”John is watching TV, one hand on the remote control, the other on her thigh. She keeps very still” (p. 8, ll. 1-2). As said, is Laura oppressed physically, John hits her, and she swallows the frustration:” Every muscle in her body trembles with the effort of keeping still” (p. 8, l. 16). In addition, she is also oppressed mentally, she tries to find out how she should take action in the different situations, even though John’s whims makes it almost impossible to handle. She hardly dare breathe and do not know whether it is wise to respond, when he asks her about something:” She doesn’t know the right thing to say, because he changes the rules each time” (p. 9, ll. 42-43). Laura´s marriage have changed her, and her identity, it have made her a quiet and introverted person. She has not always been like this, earlier was she an outgoing and were able of making people laugh.” She was not always like this. Once, she was a girl who could set a room to laughter” (p. 8, l. 19). John has taken over Laura´s identity, which directly depicts by, that she sees his form clearer than her own mirror image:” Until finally, even when she looked in the mirror at her own ghostly reflection, he was
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